"We've all had our thing. I listened to the Monkees when I was little kid"
About this Quote
In Les Claypool's mouth, "We've all had our thing" is a sly leveling device: a virtuoso reminding you that taste begins in the sandbox, not the conservatory. Claypool is the guy fans treat like a bass demigod, but he undercuts that myth with a confession so aggressively ordinary it disarms you. Not Coltrane, not Zappa, not some lore-friendly prog rite of passage. The Monkees: bubblegum TV-pop engineered for mass appeal. He picks the least "serious" credential on purpose.
The intent is social as much as autobiographical. Claypool isn't defending the Monkees; he's defending the messy, uncurated way people become themselves. The subtext is a quiet rebuke to gatekeeping, especially in rock scenes that love to audition your authenticity. Everyone has an origin story that doesn't flatter their current brand. Pretending otherwise is just laundering your past to impress strangers.
There's also a craft argument hiding inside the shrug. The Monkees were a manufactured product, but their songs were hooksmith masterclasses and studio efficiency at its most shameless. Claypool's own work, for all its technical contortions, is obsessed with the same thing: turning sound into compulsion, making odd choices feel inevitable. By pointing to the Monkees, he normalizes pleasure as a legitimate starting point, even for someone who built a career on being weird.
Context matters: said by a musician who thrives on irony and cartoonish theatrics, the line reads like a reminder that art isn't born from purity. It's born from whatever got you listening long enough to want to make noise back.
The intent is social as much as autobiographical. Claypool isn't defending the Monkees; he's defending the messy, uncurated way people become themselves. The subtext is a quiet rebuke to gatekeeping, especially in rock scenes that love to audition your authenticity. Everyone has an origin story that doesn't flatter their current brand. Pretending otherwise is just laundering your past to impress strangers.
There's also a craft argument hiding inside the shrug. The Monkees were a manufactured product, but their songs were hooksmith masterclasses and studio efficiency at its most shameless. Claypool's own work, for all its technical contortions, is obsessed with the same thing: turning sound into compulsion, making odd choices feel inevitable. By pointing to the Monkees, he normalizes pleasure as a legitimate starting point, even for someone who built a career on being weird.
Context matters: said by a musician who thrives on irony and cartoonish theatrics, the line reads like a reminder that art isn't born from purity. It's born from whatever got you listening long enough to want to make noise back.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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